Okanagan influence in Team B.C. win

Three members of the Okanagan Rockets and a Kelowna Rockets propsect all had a hand in Team B.C.’s gold medal effort at the 2017 WHL Cup in Calgary.

Ben King, a forward with the BCMML’s Rockets and Swift Current Broncos’ draft pick, scored the winner in overtime Sunday to send B.C. past Alberta 4-3 in the championship game of the annual U16 tournament.

“(Cole Shepard, Vancouver Giants) moved it up to the point and I just tried to get a screen,” King said of the game winner. “(Ryan Watson, Medicine Hat Tigers) took a shot and I tried to get a stick on it.

“I tipped it and looked and it went post and in and everyone went crazy. It was a good feeling.”

King’s Okanagan teammates, forward Jack Finley (Spokane) and defenceman Tanner Brown (Vancouver) were also members of the Team B.C. roster, as was Ethan Bowen, the Kelowna Rockets’ first round pick in the 2017 WHL bantam draft.

Finley and King finished the five-game tournament with two goals each. Bowen had a goal and two assists, while Brown finished with a goal and an assist.